Photo courtesy of olatedogs.com -
The Olate Dogs perform under the direction of Richard Olate, left, and his son Nicholas Olate. The 2012 winners of “America’s Got Talent” will appear at The Newton Theatre Jan. 12.

This time, the Olate Dogs get to follow Tom Cotter. The comedian, runnerup to the trick dog act on "America's Got Talent" in 2012, has already appeared at The Newton Theatre three times -- the last time he used losing to the dogs in his act. "I should have brought poison puppy treats or something," he teased.

Thankfully, he didn't. The Olate Dogs are coming to Newton for the first time Jan. 12.

What do Cotter and the dogs have in common? "America's Got Talent" changed their lives.

"It just opened up the doors for us," said Nicholas Olate, son of the act's originator, Richard Olate. "We always wanted our own show, but we didn't really have the following or the opportunity to do it."

But since winning Season 7 of "America's Got Talent" -- and the $1 million first prize -- the Olate Dogs have been all over the country, performing at sporting events and in theaters, while appearing on all the major television talk and variety shows and even in a couple of movies.

Led by Richard Olate, with support from his wife Rebecca, son Nicholas and his wife Yasmin and new baby Isabella, the Olate Dogs are a high-energy, fast-paced theatrical act filled with family-friendly entertainment and amazing pet tricks. The dogs, mostly poodle mixes and many of them rescues, jump through hoops and do back flips in an act that's set to music and directed by Richard and Nicholas Olate. The arsenal of tricks also includes scooter-riding, an all-dog conga line, walking and jumping rope on hind legs and the wheelbarrow, for which one dog walks on its front legs while another pushes from behind on its rear legs.

The act seemed like a long shot to win "America's Got Talent," against the more conventional singers, musicians, dancers and comedians.

"We always got along really well with everybody on the show," Nicholas said. "Tom (Cotter) is a great guy. We got to know him really well. In fact I was very surprised to win, because Tom is a really good comedian and that particular audience, for the final, really loved him."

But the crowd -- and the judges -- loved the dogs, too. "It took quite awhile to realize we had won. I was caught so off guard, I didn't really know what to do," Nicholas said.

Based in Commerce, Texas, near Dallas, the Olate family continues to rescue dogs from shelters and homes, and train them to become part of their professional troupe. The Olate Dogs travel across the continent, amazing audiences with their talents and supporting dog rescues and shelters all across America.

The Newton Theatre is partnering with the Olate Dogs to collect supplies for One Step Closer Animal Rescue (OSCAR) and Father John's Animal House. Patrons are asked to bring donations to the show or drop them off at the box office.

The rags-to-riches story of Richard Olate and the Olate Dogs began years ago in Chile, South America, where Richard grew up so poor that he often had no food or shoes. At age 12, he got his first dog and started performing with the dog on street corners. He continued rescuing stray dogs from the streets, training them and working on his amateur show.

Richard and his dogs made it to the United States when he was 33. He met his future wife, Rebecca, a circus performer, when they were booked on the same tour. He didn't speak English and she didn't speak Spanish, but somehow it all worked.

"My father has a pretty remarkable story," Nicholas said. "He was very, very poor when he was a kid. But he's always been kind of a mover and shaker, and he always did whatever he had to do to survive ... selling newspapers or spices or popcorn on the street. Just anything."

Obviously, the secret to the success of Richard Olate, now 60, is his rapport with dogs.

"He's just a remarkable person with dogs," Nicholas said. "He has a tremendous amount of patience. He doesn't train with treats. He just uses a lot of positive reinforcement and tries to figure out ways to get them to do what he wants. The dogs get very excited. The reason is he wants the dogs to be happy."

And the Olates spare no expense. The troupe drives everywhere and the dogs have their own custom trailer. Indeed, animal rights activists for the most part leave the Olates alone.

"There's not very much they can pick on," Nicholas said. "We're very protective and loving of our dogs."

Olate's "dog dynasty" is now in high demand for NBA games, college football, soccer, major and minor league baseball and on their international tour, which keeps them on the road for more than 100 shows per year. Last year alone, they appeared on numerous NBA telecasts, performing at halftime for the 2016 NBA World Champion Cleveland Cavaliers on TV and the 2015 World Champion Golden State Warriors, Circus Vargas, as well as the Los Angeles Clippers and a host of others.

Since those shows are intermission entertainment, they only last a few minutes. The theater show is different.

"The theater show is about one and a half hours and it's really a variety show, with fashion, juggling, singing. It's really quite a variety of stuff that goes on throughout the show," Nicholas said. "It's a really fun family show centered around the dogs."

The singing part might actually involve Nicholas, since the 23-year-old has a fledgling recording career on the side. He calls his music "urban hip-hoppish Spanish tropical" and he's working on his second album for a fall release. His first, "Think Big," came out in 2013, the same year the "Olate Dogs Christmas" album came out.

Despite his hard times as a youngster, Richard Olate is a third generation circus performer, so he's comfortable in front of a crowd night after night.

Rebecca's parents joined the circus when she was 1 year old. Her father, David Smith, was a national gymnastics champion and a professor at Utah State University prior to that and her mother Jean, was a homemaker. They joined the circus as a flying trapeze act and later turned to cannon shots.

As a part of their AGT accolades, The Olate Dogs won a headlining stint at The Palazzo in Las Vegas. In addition to multiple touring commitments, they're movie stars, too. Their first film, "Le Sauvetage (The Rescue)," was met with acclaim, opening the Sonoma Film Festival in April 2014 and appearing at Court Metrage, Festival de Cannes in France in May 2014. "Dog's Best Friend," the second film in their #RescueFilm series to celebrate rescue pets and promote pet adoption nationwide, was released in 2015.

The Olate Dogs act features 11 pups: Willy, a mini-poodle mix; Cholo, a schnoodle (schnauzer/poodle mix) who famously "drove" a car on stage in the 2012 "AGT" finale; Benny and Bob, schnoodles; Maggie, Lili and Bella, labradoodles; Loca, a Yorkie/poodle mix; Oso, a standard poodle; and Toby and Copo, poodle mixes. Joe, a poodle mix, and Sodi, a Maltese, are retired.

During the holiday season, The Olate Dogs performed their Santa Paws Show. They were seen on TV recently on an "America's Got Talent" retrospective special.

And now, for the first time, The Olate Dogs can be seen at The Newton Theatre.

If you go ...

What: Olate Dogs

When: Thursday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m.

Where: Newton Theatre, 234 Spring St., Newton

Admission: $25

Tickets, information: www.thenewtontheatre.com, 973-383-3700

The Newton Theatre is partnering with the Olate Dogs to collect supplies for Oscar One Step Closer Animal Rescue and Father John's Animal House. Patrons are asked to bring donations to the show or drop them off at the box office.

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